Psychological Service.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 February 2005

Wednesday, 9 February 2005

Questions (214, 215)

Olwyn Enright

Question:

255 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of psychologists employed by the National Educational Psychological Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4308/05]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

The complement of the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, has increased from 43 psychologists — 30 in permanent full-time posts and 13 on secondment — on the date of establishment to 128 in January 2005, plus two psychologists on career break and one on assignment to another section of the Department.

Recruitment of psychologists has, until recently, been undertaken by the Civil Service and Local Government Commissioners. The last Civil Service Commission panel of 69 psychologists has now been exhausted and arrangements for the recently established public appointments service to set up a new panel are at a preliminary stage. Further recruitment will depend on the availability of resources and must also take account of Government policy on public sector numbers.

Olwyn Enright

Question:

256 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of primary schools in each county in the State; the number of these schools in each county which are covered by the National Educational Psychological Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4309/05]

Minister for Education and Science (Ms Hanafin)

I attach the information requested by the Deputy as an Excel spread sheet. The schools listed as NEPS schools in the spreadsheet have NEPS psychologists directly assigned to them and have access to the full NEPS service.

All schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. Details of this process, and the conditions that apply to the scheme, appear upon the Department's website.

NEPS provides assistance to all schools that suffer from critical incidents, regardless of whether they have a NEPS psychologist assigned to them. The Deputy should note the significant expansion in the number of NEPS psychologists in recent years. There are now 128 psychologists in NEPS, compared to just 43 in 1999.

With regard to in-school support for children with learning difficulties, it should be noted that the number of resource teachers has increased dramatically in recent years, from just 104 in 1997 to 2,600 in 2004. This is in addition to the expansion in the number of special needs assistants for children with disabilities.

	Primary (not including special)	Primary (including Special)
County	NEPS schools	Total Schools	NEPS schools	Total Schools
Carlow	13	43	13	44
Cavan	40	78	40	79
Clare	33	118	33	120
Cork	207	357	208	371
Donegal	64	174	64	176
Dublin	333	418	343	473
Galway	184	235	184	239
Kerry	139	141	139	144
Kildare	38	95	39	99
Kilkenny	14	76	14	80
Laois	39	66	39	68
Leitrim	19	41	19	41
Limerick	16	142	18	148
Longford	10	39	10	40
Louth	39	70	40	73
Mayo	124	180	124	184
Meath	62	105	63	107
Monaghan	46	64	47	65
Offaly	45	66	45	67
Roscommon	38	95	38	96
Sligo	19	65	19	67
Tipperary NR	26	73	26	74
Tipperary SR	64	87	64	90
Waterford	32	73	33	77
Westmeath	26	74	26	77
Wexford	28	102	28	104
Wicklow	49	80	50	85
Total	1,747	3,157	1,766	3,288